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England Is Grinding To A Halt.
Carol Haynes:
The trouble in the UK is that they raise tax to cut car use in overcrowded cities (at least that is what they say - right?) but where do you get the cheapest fuel? In the cities of course where public transport is most abundant. In rural areas where there is almost no public transport in many areas the fuel price get an extra mark up because of the inability to sell in large quantities.
To give an idea of how silly public transport can get a number of years ago I had a job interview in Bradford and they agreed to pay for transport costs to attend on the basis that they would only support public transport costs - not private car. To get to the interview from where I live is about a 50 minute drive but to use public transport would have taken 3 days and 2 overnights in a hotel. Needless to say they agreed to pay private car mileage when I pointed this out.
I remember years ago turning up at a rural bus stop to see that a bus was dues in about 20 minutes - I felt very fortunate because it was raining really hard. Lucking at the timetable I realised just how lucky I was as that particular route only ran once a day but only on the first Tuesday of the calendar month and only between May and October each year. I happened to turn up on the first Tuesday in May, 20 minutes before it was due. WTF kind of public transport is that - and is it any wonder that the bus was empty apart from me and the driver!!
With all the local government cuts this year local authorities are now clamouring to remove the burden of public transport subsidies on non-profitable routes. Where I live (in a remote rural area) this means they will be cutting ALL non-profitable bus routes in the evenings and at weekends (in other words for most people it means there will be no buses after 6pm or before7.30am, and none at all on Saturdays and Sundays). For many people who travel long distance to get to limited work opportunities they won't be able to get to work or home from work by public transport as they will arrive outside the hours. You have three options: drive, scrounge lifts off neighbours and friends or become housebound (walking and bicycles are not an option - esp. in winter).
For those of us with cars public transport is so stupid that even taking into account ridiculous fuel costs, wear and tear and exorbitant parking costs it is still usually cheaper to use a car on your own than to catch a train (unless you plan your journey 3 months in advance!). And trains are so unreliable it is often the only way to guarantee you get there at all.
I know of a number of people who for various reasons cannot drive (either age or disability) and they will effectively be unable to go out of their home outside office hours.
We are supposed to live in a liberal democracy - but who the heck voted for this sort of idiocy - no one because neither party in the coalition even hinted it was their intention.
40hz:
Not too different where I live. We used to have a little fleet of small form factor busses called PeopleMovers. THey seated about fifteen people each which worked out fine.
Some years ago, a self appointed crusader for "people with disabilities" initiated a federal lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act to make the buses "more accessible" to the elderly and people with disabilities.
The fact that nobody but this crusader (who had no disabilities and was in her 40s) filed the complaint made no difference. The ADA allows amicus filings.
In the end, the town was told it had the choice of retrofitting every minibus with a motorized lift and new entry doors - or face a significant fine.
After looking at the expense such a retrofit would cost the town, and the dollar value of the fines that would result from non-compliance, the Selectman's office did the only thing it was financially possible for the town to do: they ended the bus service.
This rendered the court's ruling moot. Because even though the court could order changes or impose conditions to any buses operated by the town, it did not have the authority order the town to provide (or continue providing) the bus service itself. (Note: Most of our towns have no legal requirement to provide public transportation.)
Bottom line: everybody lost.
cranioscopical:
No offence but frankly, if it caused 50% of the cars currently on the UK roads to not be on the road, that would be a Good Thing. :Thmbsup:
-4wd (March 09, 2011, 09:32 PM)
--- End quote ---
50% of the cars currently on UK roads are parked along either side of those roads. Can't take 'em for a spin as it'd take most of a day to find another parking spot within a cab-fare of home! ;D
KynloStephen66515:
No offence but frankly, if it caused 50% of the cars currently on the UK roads to not be on the road, that would be a Good Thing. :Thmbsup:
-4wd (March 09, 2011, 09:32 PM)
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How would it be a good thing?
This is hitting small business owners and the poorer communities whose only means of getting to work each day, is by car. If they cant afford to work, they dont turn up, business goes slow, eventually closes down, people starve and England becomes a third world country very fast because people simply cannot afford to travel to and from work.
Public transport simply is not an option as it is the most useless invention ever...Busses rarely ever run on time, they usually dont show up, and when one finally arrives, its not going anywhere even close to your destination.
Its kinda getting out of hand, and watching it spin out of control is going to be one of the funniest and upsetting things I will ever see.
johnk:
No offence but frankly, if it caused 50% of the cars currently on the UK roads to not be on the road, that would be a Good Thing. :Thmbsup:
-4wd (March 09, 2011, 09:32 PM)
--- End quote ---
How would it be a good thing?
This is hitting small business owners and the poorer communities whose only means of getting to work each day, is by car. If they cant afford to work, they dont turn up, business goes slow, eventually closes down, people starve and England becomes a third world country very fast because people simply cannot afford to travel to and from work.
-Stephen66515 (March 10, 2011, 12:43 PM)
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There are two ways of seeing this, of course. Jump back a generation to when I was starting out, and you generally lived close to the job. I moved house several times to live close to the workplace. Today, some people in Britain commute hundreds of miles each day. Because they can. You either see that as a great freedom, or an environmental and social disaster.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the price of petrol is reaching a level where it is making people think twice about taking jobs that involve hundreds of miles of commuting a week. That may not be a bad thing.
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